Nationally noted Hapa Pizza in Beaverton slings inventive pies — plus plain cheese for finicky kids.
My family visited Hapa Pizza in Beaverton three days after The New York Times named the establishment to be one of the best 22 pizza places in the United States. According to Hapa Pizza’s website, “hapa” refers to a person of mixed racial heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry. And the pizza very much reflects a mix of cultures. Several of the pizzas take well-known Asian dishes and transmute them to pizza toppings to mind-blowing effect.
We were prepared for a wait, and arrived 15 minutes before the doors opened on a Saturday night. (There was a sign expressing gratitude for The New York Times mention and asking customers for their patience as the staff adjusted to a 200% increase in business!) Pro tip: Arrive early, prepare for a wait. My kids brought several graphic novels and a notebook to draw in.
As of our visit, the restaurant operates as an order-at-the-counter, then find-a-seat joint (although we noticed some customers claiming tables before they ordered, making the wait a bit longer). There are a few two- or four-top tables inside and larger picnic tables outside.
My family reached the counter to order by around 5:30 pm, but the host was just taking names for the waitlist at that point. Luckily the staff figured out who shouldn’t be seated yet, and politely cleared some tables. We ordered and then ended up sharing an outside table with a couple who was on the waitlist.
My husband and I had wanted to try the Korean Burrata Salad (pictured above) and the Tom Yum Caesar Salad, but they were out of the caesar. So we got two burratas ($13 each). The salad was a lively mix of textures and flavors: crunchy cucumbers and almonds, sweet summer tomatoes, devilishly spicy dressing, and two mounds of rich, creamy burrata. My husband and I polished off our salads, but could have easily split one.
We also ordered three pizzas. A half cheese, half pepperoni ($15) for my 12-year-old daughter, Adela, and 9-year-old son, Cruz, to split. And bánh mì and pho pies.
Hapa’s 12-inch pizzas come on a delightfully chewy and charred Neopolitan-style crust. It makes a great palette for their inventive toppings. The bánh mì ($19) took the elements of the Vietnamese sandwich of the same name — barbecue pork, pickled radish and carrots, cilantro — and put them on a pizza (pictured above). It was excellent. The pork was sweet and charred, the pickled vegetables bright and tangy with mozzarella cheese, cucumber sauce and sriracha aioli bringing it all together.
But the one my family couldn’t stop talking about was the pho pizza ($19) with slow-cooked, stewed brisket, pho sauce, red onion, mozzarella, cilantro, green onions, bean sprouts, hoisin and sriracha aioli (pictured above). Would one of our favorite soups successfully translate to a pizza? Short answer: Yes. “It’s like the soup is on the pizza!” said Adela, who after trying a bite of the pizza grabbed a whole slice for herself. My husband backed her up, “I really feel like I just ate pho, but I just ate pizza. It’s really a mind trip. Is that a good thing? The beauty of this is that it’s something different.”
And three pizzas was more than enough for the four of us. We had almost a whole pizza leftover even after sharing a slice of the pho pizza with our tablemates who were waiting on their pies.
We would have loved to try the two desserts, a coconut tapioca pudding and a panna cotta both featuring seasonal strawberries, but they were also out of both desserts by the time we ordered.
Despite the line, the wait, sold out items and table confusion, it was a positive dining experience. The food was fresh and fun. The staff was amazing. They were clearly working so hard and cared about providing an excellent experience for their customers. Our server noticed the graphic novel Adela was reading and asked about it. “Oh, if I wasn’t so busy I’d love to talk to you about it!,” he said. That said, if you’re dining out with a toddler it might not be the best restaurant to visit right now because in my experience, the combo of toddlers and long waits do not make for pleasant dining ambience for parents — or anyone really. (They do have highchairs though.) But for everyone else, it could be a fun family dining adventure. As our table mate said, “What else ya gonna do? It’s Saturday night!”
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